


Pets

by yikesola



Series: tumblr ficlet prompts [64]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2017, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Established Relationship, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-22 11:57:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22715686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikesola/pseuds/yikesola
Summary: Dani is trying her best, she really is, to let the Christmas spirit envelop her. It never does.A ficlet about home and holidays.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: tumblr ficlet prompts [64]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1410112
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Pets

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Pets

Dani is trying her best, she really is, to enjoy the holidays. To let the Christmas spirit envelop her. To feel all that peace on earth and goodwill towards man shit that she’s supposed to be feeling because it’s the 24th of December and she’s back home sleeping in her childhood bed and that’s supposed to fill her with some kind of built-in nostalgia. 

It does for Phoebe. It does for everyone in every cheesy, cliché Christmas movie she’s ever sat through. 

It never does for her. 

Just makes her feel cramped and shoved back into whoever she was back when she lived here and couldn’t imagine who she would be when she got out. Even the snow outside her window just makes her think about the time her dad filled the bedroom with fake snow and she woke up crying, thinking Father Christmas had made a terrible mess that she’d be blamed for and have to clean up. Even when her dad put in any sort of effort it ended in her crying… 

She can’t even sleep. If she could only sleep then it wouldn’t be the 24th anymore. It would be the 25th. She’d be that much closer to the 26th, where she’ll take the latest train available on Boxing Day back into London. Holiday duties done for another year. But instead, she’s lying in bed, eyes open and burning, unable to sleep. 

She grabs her phone and sends a complaining sort of text to Phoebe. She knows Phoebe is asleep and won’t even see it until morning. She’s only just left Phoebe a few hours before, left her to her cakes and her seaside walks and her happy homey family. But she sends the complaining text anyways, and feels better for it. 

She turns back on her side and lets out a huff of a sigh. The sound is too loud in this quiet house, quiet town, quiet cage Dani feels trapped in. 

There’s a soft scratch at her door. A little whine. Another scratch. Dani sits up, swings her legs over the side of the bed, and stands to answer. Colin wags his tail with a thump on the carpet. He leaps into the room, bounds onto Dani’s tiny bed and takes up almost all the space. She manages to curl up next to him and there’s just enough room. 

It’s a minuscule change. It’s just enough. She certainly feels less alone now. Maybe it still hurts that she and Phoebe have never spent a Christmas Day together. Maybe it still hurts that her grandparents tomorrow are going to ask when she’ll find herself a nice boy. Maybe it still hurts that her younger brother is going to be able to act like a little shit and not get half the criticism Dani will by just sitting there. But it all hurts a little less with a snoozing dog beside her. After a while, she manages to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading— come say hi on [tumblr](http://yikesola.tumblr.com/post/190823564279/pets) !


End file.
